Michael Cullen's office has just released a damning exchange between John Key and Richard Prebble that shows John Key not only fully understood the requirement for him to disclose potential conflicts of interests such as his shareholding in Tranzrail, but even used ownership of Tranzrail…
The PSA's campaign looks to get past National's simplistic 'tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts' mantra and ask voters to consider what they would have to give up to get larger tax cuts. (full size) Great stuff. Hopefully, they won't be limiting this campaign to…
For those who missed it, here's the video from last night's One News investigation into John Key's TranzRail dealings. The first clip details Key's abuse of his positition as an MP for personal financial gain, and the second clip has him lying about his shareholding,…
Anyone remember back in July Key accused Clark of misleading the house over his involvement in Tranzrail and asked for an apology? Just in case you don't here's what John Key said to TV3 said at the time: "Can I assure her that neither I,…
John Key on August 30 "The appointment of a minister to Cabinet has to be done on the basis that as Prime Minister I can look that person in the eye and have confidence that I can rely on their word." Also, I know it's…
The Privileges Committee has reported back. Peters is censured for not declaring that he had made a pecuniary gain from his lawyer taking donations for Peters' legal fund. A minority of the Committee, the Labour and NZF MPs, disagreed with this censure pointing out that…
National has released their statement about John Key's shady dealings in Tranzrail shares and unsurprisingly it's another attempt at misdirection. As I've said in the past, this is a tried and true Crosby Textor technique designed to take the heat out of a negative story…
One News has just run the revelation that John Key lied to the public and to Parliament about the extent of his shareholding in Tranzrail while using his position to ask questions about the Government's intentions for rail. More importantly, it seems he met with…
National's candidate for Wellington Central, Stephen Franks, is having a wee cry on his blog today over Agenda's decision to air that embarrassing Youtube clip where he complains about "grumpy Christians and whining gays" and compares civil unions to marrying your dog. Apparently he's been…
Dirty politics and personal attacks. They're two of the phrases of the campaign so far. The Sunday Star Times took the time to investigate what dirty tricks might mean. According to Wanganui mayor and former National MP Michael Laws: "A dirty trick is a covert act "that you would…
I've had some interesting conversations with people recently that have me thinking we need to get back to some political basics to build up to the practical policy questions of today, otherwise many of us are talking past each other. Here are three founding principles,…
It's really easy to present misleading statistics. David Farrar shows how it's done with a post on migration today. Note how his figures only go back to 2003. Why is that? Well, it just so happens that 2003 was the last low point in the…
We're keen to help you get active this election campaign. That's why we've launched Campaign Hub 2008 and its Facebook group to give you info, access to materials, and tips on campaigning. It's great to see so many people have downloaded leaflets and posters from…